


soothsayer

by atlas (songs)



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 08:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4515519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songs/pseuds/atlas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is someone in her room.</p><p>Komugi feels the presence, the pull of heat and breath.  Rather than scream, or even startle, she only asks:</p><p>“Who’s there?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	soothsayer

**Author's Note:**

> AU where killua dies from fish darts and becomes a chimera ant :0

☆☽

There is someone in her room.

Komugi feels the presence, the pull of heat and breath.  Rather than scream, or even startle, she only asks:

“Who’s there?”

One, two seconds pass. Then, a boy’s voice answers:

“You don’t see me.”

Komugi shakes her head. “I…I don’t.”

“Oh,” says the voice. It’s a young voice, something that would belong to a child. “Sorry.”

“That’s alright,” Komugi says, scratching her neck. “I’m used to it.”

Before the boy replies, Komugi starts padding toward her bed. She reaches out once she nears the spot, hand draping over the soft, splay of blankets. The boy is breathing right behind her.

“You weren’t here, before,” she says.

“No,” he tells her. “I wasn’t.”

“Where did you come from?”

“Not sure,” the boy says. “I woke up here, all alone. Then I was sent to this room.”

“Oh,” says Komugi, pensive. She asks, “Do you know the Supreme Leader?”

“The King?” 

Komugi brightens. “Mm! He’s splendid at Gungi.”

“I never saw him,” he says, before stopping. There’s a strain to his tone when he goes on, “I mean, met him. Um. I’ve never met anyone, before today.”

“You’ve been alone all your life?” Komugi questions, a sadness creeping in her chest.

“There’s the thing,” the boy says. “I don’t think I had a life. Until now. I don’t remember anything, from before I got like this.”

“Weird,” Komugi says, leaning on the edge of the bed. She sets down her cane. “What do you mean ‘like this’?”

“I don’t look—” The boy stops, again.

“It’s okay. You can explain it to me.”

“I don’t look human,” the boy finishes.

 _Ah,_ Komugi thinks. This poses a problem.

“Human,” Komugi echoes, crossing one leg over the other. “What do you look like?”

“I only caught a glimpse,” he says, slowly. “Of my reflection, I mean. You don’t have a mirror in this room.”

“I don’t need one.”

“Exactly,” the boy murmurs. “But when I saw myself—it was like. A dream, kind of. A creepy dream.”

Komugi imagines her own nightmares: drudging voices, sharp touches. The smells of blood and rotting earth. 

She says, “I’m sorry,” because she hates scary dreams, too.

“It’s not your fault,” the boy says. “It’s mine, I think.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I’m a monster, now,” he mumbles. “Monsters only become monsters from doing bad things.”

“Oh,” says Komugi, still perplexed. “But how are you a monster?”

“It’s my face.”

“What’s wrong with it?” 

“It’s like…” She hears him rustling. “Have you ever heard of mermaids?”

Komugi thinks of her birth-village, of the fairytale books her Mama would read her, when she used to say anything to Komugi, at all.

“Yes,” she says. “Fish-people, right?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Fish live in the water, y’know? So their skin is different from ours. It’s sort of cold, and smooth, but a little hard.”

“Ah,” Komugi says,  letting out a giggle. What a strange boy. “So you look like a fish?”

“No!” snaps the boy, and Komugi laughs, again. “Well. Parts of me do. I think…”

Komugi coaxes, “Think what?”

The boy makes a swallowing sound. “I think it has to do with. How…how I died.”

Komugi stiffens. “Died?”

“You haven’t noticed, yet, have you?” the boy asks.

Komugi brings her knees to her chest. “W-what do you mean?”

“Everyone in this castle,” he says, “is dead.”

Komugi stands abruptly, feels her balance shift. She gropes for her cane, then, before a slick, cool touch mingles with her skin. 

“You okay?” the boy asks.

“I’m fine,” she says, shortly. “So…don’t…don’t mess with me.”

“Mess with you?”

“About fish. And dead people.”

“I’m telling you the truth,” the boy says. “The people here are monsters.”

“There’s no such thing as monsters,” Komugi says.

“What am I, then?” the boy snarls. “A ghost?”

“You’re a human,” says Komugi. “Just like me.”

She hears a thud. “But…”

Komugi waits.

“I don’t remember.”

Gently, Komugi asks, “What don’t you remember?”

“My name,” he whispers. “Or anything else, except…”

Komugi waits.

“Gon,” the boy says, in a broken voice. “There’s someone I need to find, named Gon.”

“Who is Gon?” Komugi asks, softly.

“I don’t know,” the boy tells her. “I don’t know anything. They said my memory was wiped.”

“But it wasn’t,” Komugi says. “You remember Gon.”

“Only the name.”

“Isn’t that enough?” Komugi asks. “It should be enough to find them.”

“…You aren’t afraid?”

“Of what?” Komugi questions.

“The things I’m telling you.”

“About ghosts and monsters and memories?” Komugi giggles, again. “To be honest, I don’t understand. But from talking to you, you seem like a nice person.”

“A nice person,” the boy repeats. “I was going to kill you, y’know.”

“Kill me?”

“To escape.” 

“Hmm,” says Komugi. “Could you wait, just a bit, then? I’d rather play another match with the Supreme Leader, before you do that.”

“I’m not going to do it,” the boy says. “I don’t think I like the idea. Of killing you, at least.”

“Thank you,” Komugi says.

“Don’t thank people who threaten your life.”

“Okay,” she affirms, sitting back down. “Are you going to look for Gon, then?”

“I need to get out of here, first.”

“Well…” Komugi tells him. “I won’t stop you.”

The boy chuckles. “I wasn’t worried about you.”

“Ah.”  _That makes sense,_ Komugi realizes. “If it’s the others you need to worry about, it’s fine. When I play a match with the Supreme Ruler, they’re always there, with me.”

“Really?”

“They don’t trust me,” she says, a bit sadly. “So they watch.”

“You play Gungi?” the boy asks. “With the King?”

“Mm,” she says. “It’s very fun.”

“I wish I could watch you,” the boy says, sounding sincere.

“I can show you, now,” she tells him. “Before you leave.”

“Leave?”

“I’m supposed to play the Supreme Ruler at midnight,” she says, wistfully. “You can go when I do. Down the hall is another door that’s hidden. I felt it, once. I don’t know where it leads, though.”

“Thank you,” the boy says, and it comes out small, childlike. “Thank you.”

Shyly, she mumbles, “Don’t thank me.”

“Alright,” he says. For a while after, he is quiet. But then, in a nervous tone, he rasps, “Um…can I ask you one thing?”

“Sure,” she says.

The boy asks: “What’s your name?”

“Komugi,” she answers, a smile tracing her lips. “Can I ask you for something, too?”

“Yes,” he says.

“Search for Gon,” she tells him. “But promise you’ll look for your other memories, too.”

The boy remains silent.

“Find your name,” she says. “So when we meet again, you can tell me.”

The boy remains silent.

Komugi lets out a nervous sigh. “Sorry, if that was a strange thing to ask. But…”

“Okay,” the boy says, at length. “I promise.”

Before Komugi can say anything more, the clock-bell chimes from the space across the bed. The door to the room creaks open, and she hears the boy retreat, behind her—

“Komugi,” singsongs a voice.

_It’s midnight._


End file.
